Second Life

Second Life (SL) is a free 3D virtual world imagined and created by its residents, representing millions of real people from around the world.  Created in 2003, it is available via the Internet after a user downloads a Second Life viewer program to their computer.  Users create and modify avatars: animated 3D representations of themselves (or their alter egos) to move around within Second Life by walking, flying, or teleporting between thousands of exciting and ever-changing locations. 

The user is then fully immersed in a world in which they can explore, socialize, participate in individual or group activities, as well as create and trade virtual property and services with one another.  Downloading the viewer program, avatar creation, and participation are all free.  Premium membership for a fee provides technical support and a stipend of local currency to be used “in world.”

Once you are set up, you can explore our Second Life site (shown below).

Second Life is a rapidly growing application for libraries, academia, and government entities.  It is favored by many educators for the unique distance learning opportunities it provides to over 300 universities around the world.

However, Second Life is not just for libraries and educational institutions.  Users may be interested to know that communities of engineers, planners, chemists and physicists, historians, and other professionals and affinity groups all meet and interact in Second Life.

Participation in Second Life and our mission go hand in hand.  Visual literacy is an important skill which continues to grow in the increasingly technological aspects of our daily lives.  It enhances our ability to demonstrate, share, and collaborate with others who are not physically nearby.  Second Life also plays an important role for the physically challenged, allowing them to visit places and create experiences that are otherwise difficult.

Metro’s Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library is a leader in the transportation research community, providing users the tools for communication and the distribution of knowledge.  Our site in Second Life includes a full-scale building containing links to all of our resources and services.  Users are greeted upon arrival and welcomed into the Library with navigational tools directing them to our library catalog, a union catalog of 40 transportation libraries (TLCat), a link to Metro maps and trip planning via Google Transit, as well as all of our Web 2.0 resource sharing and social networking sites.  We have an entire room dedicated to our historical photograph collection accessed via our Flickr photostream.

Metro is the first transportation library in the United States to develop a presence in Second Life.  It will allow us to expand our collaboration in transportation research and knowledge management in new and exciting ways.  It also provides the opportunity to make ourselves known to those who otherwise might not be aware of our collections, products, and services.  Our real-world leadership in serving as a leading transportation library, archive, and research center informs our ability to go where our users and potential users are online. 

If you would like to learn more about Second Life, many online resources are available to you, including blogs, news stories, and user communities made up of individuals willing to share their experiences.  To get started, visit Second Life and download the viewer client program.  More information can be found at Second Life's FAQ page.  If you have any further questions, please contact us at library@metro.net for assistance.

Also On Our Site

View the library's site categories